Railway-car end construction.



J. M. ROHLFING. RAILWAY-GAR END CONSTRUCTION. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 14, 1913v 1,074,746; Patented 0ct.7,1913.

Mrneaaea WETED STATES JOHN M. ROHLFIN G,

FOUNDRY COMPANY, OF ST. LOUIS,

RAILWAY-CAR END CONSTRUCTION.

. i magi-to.-

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed January 14, 1913.

Patented Oct. 7, i 913. Serial No. 742,001.

f0 (21] 101mm it may concern I Be it known that I, JOHN M. ROHLFING, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Railway-Car End Construction, of which the following is a full, clear, and eX- act description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains' to make and use the same, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure l is an end of my improved construction. Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the car end. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken on the line H of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken on the line 55 of iiiy invention relates generally to railway car end construction, and more particularly to the construction of the car end Wall or plate.

In railway cars, and particularly those designed for and used in freight service, the end portions of the car bodies, and particularly the end walls, are subjected to se- Vere stresses and strains notonly because of the suddenstarting and stopping of the cars and the consequent vibration, but by reason of the shifting of the load or contents of the car while the latter is in transit, and also by reason of blows or shocks which the end wall may receive while the car is in service.

I propose to construct a car end from a single piece of material, such as sheet metal, the same being provided with ribs or corrugations arranged so as to reinforce and stiffen the plate to a maximum degree so that in service it will effectively resist all stresses and strains it may receive as the result of vibration, internally applied blows or from collisions.

The principal object of my inventlon is to construct the car end in a single piece, preferably a section of sheet-metal, to reinforce and stiflen the same by means of ribs .or

elevational view of a car I plate are diagonally and externally corrugations pressed in the sheet metal and to arrange on the inside of the sheet metal plate reinforcing strips which are positioned directly over the ribs or corrugations, thus providing an extremely simple, inexpensive construction which will materially increase the strength and rigidity of the end portion of the car body.

To the above purposes, my invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the construction of my improved car end as shown, 10 designates a plate of sheet metal of such size and contour as to form the entire end wall of the-car body, and formed in said plate on opposite sides and at equal distances from the center thereof are verth cally disposed stifi'ening ribs or corrugations 11 which extend from the bottom of the plate to points near the top thereof. These ribs or corrugations are preferably deepest at their lower portions and gradually decrease in depth toward their outer" ends.

Formed in the plate 10 to the sides of the ribs or corrugations 11 and extending from the lower ends thereof upwardly and outwardly toward the upper corners of the disposed ribs or corrugations 12 which gradually decrease in depth toward their upper ends. The lower ends of the corresponding pairs of corrugations 11 and 12 unite at the lower portion of the plate 10 to form short vertically disposed ribs or corrugations 13.

Positioned against the rear or inner face of the plate 10 and arranged immediately over the ribs or corrugations 11, 12 and 13, are metal plates 14, the same being attached to the plate 10 by means of rivets or like fastening devices, the same being arranged in rows along the sides of the ribs or corrugations. This construction ties the plate to gether across the ribs or corrugations pressed therein and forms a very strong and rigid construction which is particularly eflective in resisting all stresses and-strains lmparted to the end-plate and which may tend to distort the same.

The upper edge of the plate 10 is formed so as to conform with the shape of the car roof, and formed in the upper portion of said plate directly above the upper ends or corrugations 11 is a horizontally disposed rib or corrugation 15 which is preferably deepest at its central portion and which located over the short vertically disposed ribs or iorrugations 13 are bent. forwardly to form. flanges 17 which coincide with the horizontal legs of the angle strips 16 and rest directly upon the undertrame or end sill to which my improved car end is fixed.

A car end of my improved construction is comparatively simple, does away with the expense incident to the time and labor involved in forming a car end of built-up construction, and by providing the corrugations in the plate and reinforcing the same with the plates arranged over said corrugations, an exceptionally strong and rigid car end is provided which is effective in resisting externally applied crushing strains such as may be received in collisions, or internally applied stresses resulting from shifting loads.

My improved end plate can be readily combined with car bodies of ordinary construction and when used in connection therewith, the impact and stresses produced by blows received by the end plate in service are transmitted directly to the strongest parts of the car body, viz: the corners thereof.

It will be readily understood that minor changes in the size, form and construction of the various parts of my improved car end can be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without departing from the spirit of my invention, the scope of which is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. car end constructed of pairs of sheet metal having tor-med therein a series of stitt'ening ribs or corrugations, extending across the hect of metal, the members of each pair being united at one end and reinforcing plates fixed to the sheet metal plate over said ribs or corrugations.

l A car end constructed of a single piece or? eet metal and provided with diverging stiueuing ribs or corrugations which extend from one of the horizontal edges of the piece of sheet metal across the same toward the opposite edge and corners thereof.

.1 car end formed of a single piece of sheet metal having formed therein a pair of vertically disposed ribs or corrugations, and a pair of diagonally disposed stiffening ribs or corrugations.

1-. A car end formed of a single piece of sheet metal having formed therein a pair of vertically disposed ribs or corrugations,

a pair of diagonally disposed stiffening ribs or corrugations, and a horizontally disposed stiffening rib or corrugation.

5. A car end comprising a single piece of sheet metal having formed therein pairs of diverging corrugations, and reinforcing plates applied to the-sheet metal plate over said ribs or corrugations.

6. A car end comprising a single piece of sheet metal having formed therein pairs of diverging corrugations, reinforcing plates applied to the sheet metal plate over said ribs or corrugations, and a horizontally disposed stiffening rib or corrugation.

7. Acar end formed of a single piece of sheet metal having formed therein a pair of diverging stiffening ribs or corrugations which extend substantially from one edge of the plate to the opposite edge thereof.

8. A car end formed of a single piece of sheet metal having formed therein a pair of diverging stiffening ribs or corrugations, and reinforcing plates fixed to said car end over said corrugations.

9. A. car end formed of a single piece of sheet metal having formed therein a "pair of diverging corrugations and base flanges projecting troni the lower portion of said car end.

10. A car end comprising asingle piece of sheet metal having formed therein a pair of vertically disposed stiffening ribs or corrugations, and also having formed therein a pair of diagonally disposed stiffening ribs or corrugations, which. latter extend fromthe lower portions of the vertically disposed ribs or corrugations toward the upper corners'of said car end.

11. A. car end composed of sheet metal and having formed therein"a substantially V- shaped stitteni'ng rib or corrugation.

12. A car end composed of sheet metal having formed therein a substantially V- shaped stifi'cning rib or corrugation, and reinforcing plates applied to said car end over the stitl'ening rib or corrugation formed therein. y

13. A car end composed of sheet metal and having formed therein a pair of substantially V-shaped sti'ltening ribs or corrugations.

1a. A car end composed of sheet metal having formed therein a pair of substantially V-shaped stiffening ribs or corrugations, and reinforcing lates applied to said car end over said stiflening ribs or corrugations.

15. A can end constructed of sheet metal signa turc in the presence of two and having formed therein :1 substantially this eighth day of J anua'r 1913. V-shaped reinforcing rib or corrugation, JOHN M. ROHLFING.

Witnesses,

and a horizontally disposed rib or corruga- \Vitnesses: 5 Hon. 7 f OSCAR HOOHBERG,

In testnnony whereof I hereunto aflix my WILLIAM V. MORRISON. 

